If your policy requires that you declare your actual insured sales, consider these tips when completing your declaration(s):
- Sales that are paid in cash before the goods are delivered are excluded under your policy and should not be declared. However, if you release the goods after being paid with a non-certified cheque or any method other than cash, the risk is greater and deemed comparable to a sale on open-account terms. In this case, the sale should be declared.
- Some companies will offer early payment discounts; however, because we are insuring against non-payment of the full amount including the discount, the full amount must be declared.
- Sales payable by letters of credit are excluded, unless you have specifically requested coverage for letter-of-credit sales and they are covered under the policy by way of a special condition. (Coverage only offered under export policies.)
- Goods returned by a customer are not to be deducted from subsequent declarations. As we covered the risk initially for the full amount, premiums must be paid on the full amount.
- Premium must be paid in the policy currency, as set out in your Coverage Certificate.
- It is important to correct any errors in amounts originally declared. In the event of a claim, we will want to make sure that the sale was declared at the appropriate time and the premium was paid.
- Even if you have no sales to declare in a given period, the declaration form for that period must still be completed. This is commonly referred to as a ‘Nil Declaration’ and simply requires that you enter $0.00 in the sales field.
Additionally, for those with an Export Cost & Receivables policy:
- Coverage under this type of policy begins on the date you start to incur costs for the contract. You should declare the value of all contracts (the transaction value) entered into in each declaration period.
- Cash received prior to, or on the date you receive a contract, would be deducted from the contract price.
